MFA Social Documentary Film Program at SVA

[Niki B]

Full Disclosure: I work for the SocDoc department, but I wanted to let all of you aspiring and current Doc filmmakers know about our new (in the second year) program in non-fiction filmmaking at the School of Visual Arts in New York. We have amazing faculty and guest lecturers, great facilities and a supportive film and arts community. Check out our web site for more information: www.mfasocdoc.sva.edu

 

[ChrisDoco]

I am a graduate of the SVA Social Documentary program. I graduated a few years ago and wanted to share my experience. In short I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND GOING TO SOCDOC unless you have a full scholarship. I am still close with a lot of people who have graduated from the school and everyone agrees but since we are all so invested in the program most people aren't vocal about it. Read on for more explanation.

The school is run basically like a bootcamp. You are forced to take a full load of courses and then labs on top of that (that you don't get any credits for). The really sad thing is that you are being trained to be a slave for the Maro (the head of the program) and her sycophants. All the best students in the program every year are offered unpaid (a few people have been offered very low pay) jobs on the professor's documentaries. I was told this when I first got there by someone who was ahead of me and didn't want to believe it. I'll give it to Maro though, she has a great business plan. Get a dozen young hungry filmmakers to pay you 80,000 so you can train them to be efficient free labor on your own films.

The professors are much more interested in their own films than teaching. Often times professors will use class time to screen their works in progress and edit them in front of you. I gave feedback during one of these sessions and the professor used it but I didn't even get a mention in the vast thanks in their credits. The teaching was so poor that they really could have taught us the same thing in 20% of the time. Professors are often absent and unprepared for class. On top of that their egos are the size of Texas (despite them being much more relevant 10-plus years ago) and they treat you like Kindergartners.

The film school/no film school argument isn't so simple but here I REALLY wished I had used this money to hire good people to make my first film.... or at least waited and re-applied to a better school.

Additionally, they have old or not enough of the equipment so still count on buying your own camera. Their audio stuff is fine but don't expect lights or jibs or steadycam or any of the things beyond the basics. I spoke to a current student and they said they just bought 5 Fs5s. But they only bought 5 for 30 students so people are getting into fights over them.

On the plus side they have a really cool looking space. However,

Don't do it! My 2C

 

[Documentalry]

The above review is spot on. I wonder which classmate/alum it was?

I started to have concerns about our MFA Social Documentary Film film-making program in the first semester but was too overloaded with work to really think seriously about dropping out. I really regret "finishing what I started" and not heeding the writing on the wall that was blatant by midway through my second semester. I had some documentary experience but not a lot. Now I hate myself for not taking the money I spent on school and spending it on gear and my first film instead (I did of course end up having to spend almost 20,000 on my film that was a requirement to graduate anyways - this is a hidden cost of SocDoc MFA they hide from incoming students). This is an old "Filmschool" argument but in this case it is true --- definitely.

The faculty are basically a suck-up club to Maro Chermayeff who uses the program's faculty positions as a political favor (though she still can't manage to win festivals) and the student body as slave labor for her own films. The higher up you go on the faculty hierarchy the more they suck up (though there are a surprising number of faculty who are open to me about how little respect those working closely with her have for her- this was one of my early tip-offs I wish I heeded.) The worst of these is Micah Fink (who you see dressed up a soldier on the faulty page - cool war journalist guy) who barely bothers to teach his class because he knows all he really has to do is suck up to the chair for job security).

The worst part of the Maro cult is that they are all living 30 years in documentary's past. They openly resent cutting edge stuff like, you know, the internet. Even though it is a film MAKING program (and Maro loves to throw around the "maker" buzzword) it is really a documentary history program. Why did I ruin my life with student debt for this?

In an attempt to find the positive (in the totally cynical "balanced" psuedo-journalism smokescreen I learned at MFA SocDoc) I will say the facilities are very nice. You have a lovely LOOKING school in a decent nabe in NYC to squat in for two years. Some students held onto this plus to tightly that they actually slept there all the time. Even with NYC astronomical rents they still didn't get their money's worth.

I would say that the "network" was a plus from the school except even the most talented students only got the low pay throwaway jobs faculty didn't want and the documentary film world is so cut throat that stories of alumni sabotaging each other's film projects are absurdly common. This program is like everything bad that people say about the School of Visual Arts times 1000.

 

[onlyonesherry]

The above review is spot on. I wonder which classmate/alum it was?

I started to have concerns about our MFA Social Documentary Film film-making program in the first semester but was too overloaded with work to really think seriously about dropping out. I really regret "finishing what I started" and not heeding the writing on the wall that was blatant by midway through my second semester. I had some documentary experience but not a lot. Now I hate myself for not taking the money I spent on school and spending it on gear and my first film instead (I did of course end up having to spend almost 20,000 on my film that was a requirement to graduate anyways - this is a hidden cost of SocDoc MFA they hide from incoming students). This is an old "Filmschool" argument but in this case it is true --- definitely.

The faculty are basically a suck-up club to Maro Chermayeff who uses the program's faculty positions as a political favor (though she still can't manage to win festivals) and the student body as slave labor for her own films. The higher up you go on the faculty hierarchy the more they suck up (though there are a surprising number of faculty who are open to me about how little respect those working closely with her have for her- this was one of my early tip-offs I wish I heeded.) The worst of these is Micah Fink (who you see dressed up a soldier on the faulty page - cool war journalist guy) who barely bothers to teach his class because he knows all he really has to do is suck up to the chair for job security).

The worst part of the Maro cult is that they are all living 30 years in documentary's past. They openly resent cutting edge stuff like, you know, the internet. Even though it is a film MAKING program (and Maro loves to throw around the "maker" buzzword) it is really a documentary history program. Why did I ruin my life with student debt for this?

In an attempt to find the positive (in the totally cynical "balanced" psuedo-journalism smokescreen I learned at MFA SocDoc) I will say the facilities are very nice. You have a lovely LOOKING school in a decent nabe in NYC to squat in for two years. Some students held onto this plus to tightly that they actually slept there all the time. Even with NYC astronomical rents they still didn't get their money's worth.

I would say that the "network" was a plus from the school except even the most talented students only got the low pay throwaway jobs faculty didn't want and the documentary film world is so cut throat that stories of alumni sabotaging each other's film projects are absurdly common. This program is like everything bad that people say about the School of Visual Arts times 1000.

Is that true？Is that program are really horrible just like you said？I got the offer and I am considering if I go for it

 

[MMNYC]

hey did you get to the program?? I am thinking about applying it or not

Is that true？Is that program are really horrible just like you said？I got the offer and I am considering if I go for it

 

[KnockYourDocsOff]

I had a different experience in the program. I graduated in 2022 and in that time the program had spent a lot of resources revamping its approach to documentary. There was a push to bring in more diverse filmmakers and staff there is always more work to be done but it was nice to know that these things were on the departments coordinator Rose's mind and she did make moves to make it happen. I quite enjoyed that the professors taught their own films, most of them were extremely decorated filmmakers with Emmy's, Peabodys and Academy Award nominations and wins so to learn from professionals who have presented and achieve the highest accolades in the industry was very informative for me. As well as getting insight into how they formulated their films and the challenges they faced to turn their work into the success it is today was very insightful. The SVA Social Documentary filmmaking program did also provide a good ration I believe in my class the faculty to student ration was 2 professors to 1 student meaning you got a hands on attentive experience.

Maro Chermayeff is the chair of the program and is not a teacher and in my experience she was supportive and nurturing to the process, she was tough but it was always in the service of improving your filmmaking. I personally did not want to be coddled in my filmmaking and rather have my horizon expanded and skillset pushed with honest critique. This program is by no means easy and as most programs what you put in you get out, I made friends I will have for life and can confidently say i left the program a more astute and technically sound documentary filmmaker. but the major focus of the program is social documentary filmmaking and making sure you can find your niche and interests to expand after the program, alot of students thesis films went onto screen at festivals all around the world after graduation.

Often filmmakers start as unpaid help or production assistant to garner experience, admittedly it is getting harder to justify working for free in the current economy but you also gain invaluable access to industry professionals that you can use to your advantage in other ways. This being said always make sure you have financial security and are aware of all the costs associated with living in NYC for this program.

There is no blueprint to a succesfull career in film but what you get at SocDoc is exposure to numerous professionals and how they have succeeded in making their path. We often had visiting lectures and screening with cutting edge filmmakers and even socdoc alumni that were making their own films premiering at festivals and being sold to distributors.